Mask of Ice
by 2d66
Summary: Anna is a young princess who thinks she knows what love is until fate brought her to the mysterious and beautiful recluse living on the North Mountain. Soon she is enraptured in a love that might be the only thing that can save Elsa from her scarred past. AU; not incest but most definitely Elsanna.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So this first chapter is my attempt to set this thing up so it'll sound more like a prologue. It does get a little dark and a tad angsty. I don't believe it is anything really bad but I just thought I would warn you. And this is certainly Elsanna so if you don't like it, don't read it.

I do not own Frozen.

**Mask of Ice**, Chapter 1

A young Elsa lay on her bed listening intently as her mother read to her one of her favorite stories. With gleaming eyes she listened as her mother detailed to her the epic of the Trojan War; listening with envy as her mother described the beautiful face of the Spartan Queen that launched a thousand Greek war ships. The beauty that her mother described was one that Elsa had always dreamed of. She never wished to look like the goddesses Aphrodite or Athena like most young girls would, she would much rather be normal.

Normal. What did she know of normal?

Ever since she was young she was cursed with the ever burdening powers of winter. She would forever be cold, the gleaming rays of the sun would never warm her chilled bones. For the rest of her life she would never experience having the ability to create anything beautiful or warm. All her powers ever did was destroy and spread the hated cold that eternally radiated within her.

Her parents loved her, she knew that much, but even they could never see her powers as anything other than a curse sent by the gods. They kept her isolated and away from others. Elsa had no friends, no one to talk to; all she had were her books and her stories that helped her to cling on to the distant dream of normalcy. Yet, every book she read was also like an arrow piercing her heart. Each book only reminded her that she was forever trapped because of her curse and would never experience anything other than what lay within her family's cabin. The romantic books hurt the worst. For above all else, Elsa yearned for someone who would love her for who she was and to accept her, curse and all. Still, the temporary reprieve that her books offered her was enough to keep these demons at bay.

So she always looked forward to moments such as these where she would be lying beside her mother, listening to her describing a fascinating epic, and pretending that she was normal. As her mother's words continued to gently float to her young ears, sleep slowly started to overtake Elsa's inner thoughts. Soon, Elsa was fast asleep with all her worries and burdens temporarily drifting away.

Carefully her mother closed her book and, with a smile, bent down to lay a kiss on her daughter's forehead. With another smile she whispered a loving goodnight and quietly made her way out of her only daughter's room.

**-x-**

Elsa woke up with a start. Something tore through her sound sleep and disturbed her, though what it was exactly eluded her groggy mind. Trying to blink away the haziness of sleep she looked around her small room in an attempt to find what had awoken her. Her sleep induced state caused her to miss the slight smell of smoke that as it began to fill the air around her. Slowly, Elsa made her way to her bedroom door hoping to step out and find her parents thinking that maybe she could sleep with them for the night.

Elsa opened her door only to become panicked as flames surrounded her and quickly spread throughout her room, threatening to engulf her small frame entirely. Filled with panic she rushed into the hall, running in the direction of her parents' bedroom.

"Mama! Papa!" Elsa screamed into the smoke filled hall. Flames danced around her vision as she tried desperately to find her parents in the labyrinth of fire and haze. Tears fell freely over the young girl's cheek only to evaporate before hitting the ground. As the flames danced and twirled around her, Elsa could not feel its heat. Even as her clothes began to catch fire and fall off of her frail body, all she could feel was the same frigid cold that haunted her from the day she was born.

She kept moving toward her parent's door. All of her senses were overwhelmed by the flames that now consumed the entire building. Every attempt she made to move further towards her parent's room was met with falling support beams and suffocating smoke. With every step she grew weaker. With every breath her lungs filled with more black smoke. Her breathing quickly became labored from all the toxins in the air.

"Mama! Papa!" Elsa continued to scream as fear gripped her. Her powers began to unconsciously flow through her, shooting ice and snow from her body indiscriminately. Though, the heat from the flames almost immediately melted anything that her magic conjured up.

Large crashes started to echo throughout the house as the building began to fall apart. Frantically, Elsa continued to make her way further into the house in a desperate attempt to find her parents. As Elsa finally reached the door to her parents' room she saw that it was ablaze. With a look of determination set upon her face, she brought her small hands up, starting to conjure up as much of her power as possible. Before she could finish, a large crashing sound echoed from above. Looking up Elsa caught a short glimpse of a large burning support beam just as it crashed on top of her, making everything go black.

**-x-**

Wearily, Elsa started to come to, only to immediately wish she hadn't. Her entire body ached, her head felt as if it was split open, and she was lying in a pool of water still pinned down by the fallen support beam. Said beam laid atop the left side of her face making her unable to move her head. With great effort she slowly brought her hands up to the beam but quickly found it would be impossible to lift in her battered state. She was exhausted, hurt, weak, and scared to death.

Panic started to course through her veins, the sensation of being helplessly trapped frightening her. Filled with fear, her powers flowed through her fingers against her will. A column of ice formed beside the blonde's head and shot upwards, launching the beam through the air as if it weighed nothing.

Shaken, the young girl tried to stand on wobbly legs only for the reality of the situation to finally hit her. Looking around she was met with the image of what remained of her once beloved home. Smoldering embers and blackened wood stood in the place of the once proud building. Everything was destroyed. All of her books, her toys, her pictures, her room. Everything that she had known, her entire world. All gone.

Yet the sight that brought the young girl to her knees laid directly in front of her. Just beyond the burnt frame of her parents' doorway was what remained of their bedframe. Atop the burned bed laid what was left of two charred remains.

Tears started to flow freely down the girl's pale cheeks as she broke down into hysterical sobs. Crumbling to the ground she wept for the loss of her parents, for her home, for her everything. She had nothing left. She was alone.

Somehow she eventually ended up kneeling by their bed, how she got there she didn't know. Elsa looked at what was left of her beloved parents. The sight was so disturbing; she couldn't hold back the bile forming in her sore throat. Even after she had nothing left in her stomach her body forced her to dry heave. The sight of her parents, no what was left of her parents, was a sight her young mind would never forget.

After what felt like hours, and as the sun began to rise over the mountain tops, Elsa's tears no longer fell. She had no tears left. She couldn't feel anymore, she was numb. She stood, sparing one last glance at her parents' remains, and started to walk away. She had no idea where she was going, it didn't matter. Anywhere she went there would be more for her there than there was for her here. Everyone she had ever known was gone, she was truly lost.

The sound of broken glass caused her to glance down. The remnants of a mirror laid on the floor, its broken remains casting a broken reflection back to her. Looking closer she could see the left side of her face was burnt badly. It was practically deformed. Her once smooth, pale cheek was now the deep black of charred flesh and deep, red lines ran across her skin all the way from her upper neck to her temple. The sight of the burnt flesh brought with it the pain that Elsa had, until now, been unaware of.

Quickly, with the wave of her hand she created a crude lump of ice to cover the ruined side of her face. The foggy ice hid the deformed part of her face and the cold helped to numb the burned skin.

Without looking back, Elsa walked away into the wintery night leaving behind the smoldering remains of her life.

***********13 years later************

A young peasant boy tried the best he could to weave through the throng of people assembling in the village square. Running and darting between the countless legs of the taller adults rewarded him with the perfect spot to catch a glimpse of what was causing such an excitement in the small, rural village. Climbing atop the small statue of a local garrison commander, he looked out and over the rest of the crowd that was still in front of him.

Atop a hastily assembled platform stood a short, stocky man adorned in what could only be described as palace garb. Never before had the boy seen such extravagant clothes. The oddly dressed man quickly looked out at the large assembly of peasants, and with a huff produced a parchment that he began to read from. A surprisingly commanding voice was produced by the short, stocky figure. So commanding was it that a silence reverberated across the assembled so they could better hear the stranger.

"It is on this day that King Agnarr the Brave, King of all Arendelle and Lord of the Northern Mountains wishes to announce the betrothal of his only daughter, Princess Anna, to the noble son born to the king of the Southern Isles, Prince Hans."

At the mention of the Southern Isles, the longtime enemy of the Arendelle, the crowd erupted into a series of shouted dissents and arguments. Barely missing a beat, the man on the podium shouted for silence. The combined power of his command and the sight of a dozen royal soldiers stationed around the crowd silenced the dissenters long enough for the man to continue.

"It is the hope of our gracious King that this marriage will bring peace between our two kingdoms, and that it could usher in a new era of peace and prosperity. The Council of Nobles have already declared their support for the union, declaring that the move will increase Arendelle's standing in Northern Europe. With that being said, the King wishes to assure his loyal subjects that he will never forget the past military acts of the Southern Isles that caused death and destruction along our border. As part of the union, the Southern Isles has agreed to pay reparations for such actions as well as submit to a favorable trade union with our prosperous kingdom. As such, the King wishes that you will join him and his family in celebrating this blessed union."

A soft round of clapping and stomping followed the speech to show support for the announcement. Although not loud, there was a noticeable lack of the dissent that many within the crowd had displayed earlier.

**-x-**

Anna looked at the man standing before her. He was dressed handsomely in a military uniform common among the royalty of the Southern Isles. The lavish uniform, adorned with numerous medals, complemented his broad shoulders and served to enhance the man's already considerable muscular build. There was no denying that he was absolutely gorgeous, even his unusually long sideburns could not detract from his overall good looks. Standing nearly a head taller than her, she was forced to look up at him as they stood in front of each other. And as she looked into his eyes, she felt as though she could melt. His gaze captured her and it felt as though his eyes were looking deep into her soul. It made her feel hot. Uncomfortably so.

The young princess was too occupied with her thoughts to notice the friendly chatter that was taking place within the grand hall that she was in. Instead, she began to wage an internal war with herself as the large group of people that was gathered around the two began to grow restless.

It was just so much, so quickly. She had been on one date with him, and by the end of it they were engaged. Anna had become so swept up in the perfection of that one date and of the man in front of her now that she hadn't hesitated in the least when he asked for her hand in marriage. She was confident it was true love.

Now, a little over a month later, her confidence had begun to fade as reality sank in. She was going to get married to a man she barely knew, a man that some of her people openly despised, and a man that she had only kissed on a few occasions.

_But it's true love!_ She tried to remind herself. With that she regained enough of her confidence to bring her eyes up to once again look into the eyes of her fiancée.

Finally gathering enough strength, she whispered the simple, but meaningful, words that she had memorized weeks ago but had yet brought herself to say, "I, Princess Anna, take thee, Prince Hans, to be my lawful wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth."

With a wide smile, Prince Hans placed a glistening ring onto his bride's slim, trembling finger while reciting, "With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow."

Though still torn, Anna was able to force out a small smile after the two newlyweds parted from the kiss meant to bind them together for the rest of their lives.

For better or for worse… Oh how she prayed it would be for the better.

* * *

A/N: So yeah this is my first attempt at Elsanna, but I starting to feel pretty good about it. This first chapter is kinda short and lacks much dialogue but it was meant to mostly introduce Elsa and Anna. The following chapters will sound different and will be told more from Anna's point of view. This will also be AU and will not have any incest but I will try to stay pretty close to the original characters. Let me know what you think! Like everyone else on here I run off of reviews.

Oh and shout out to Hunhund who helped me get this thing started, and to RaymanK16 for looking over my revisions!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: I am so so sorry for taking so long… Just as a bit of warning this does have some romantic-ish interactions between Hans and Anna (since they are married). Also, things in italics are thoughts. Anyway without further ado, here is the next chapter…

I sadly do not own Frozen.

**Mask of Ice**, Chapter 2

Anna looked at her old childhood room with a mixture of apprehension and relief. She had known very little outside the room ever since she was born, the few times she was able to adventure out and experience life it never extended far beyond the castle grounds. And now she was about to venture out into the world in a way she could have only dreamed of a month ago. Soon she would leave the only life she had ever known to go and begin a new one. Together. With someone she barely knew.

"What is on your mind sweetheart?" the concerned voice of her mother reached her ears.

Turning abruptly at the sudden interruption, Anna came face to face with a worried look only a mother could have.

Sighing Anna turned back around to look at her room once again. "It's nothing. I-It's just a lot to take in I guess. All I've ever known is inside this place. I mean I am excited to see everything out there. Part of me just can't wait another second until I can run through the streets singing as loud as I possibly can. But…" Anna looked away and her mom stayed silent, waiting for her to elaborate.

"But everything is happening so fast."

"It's perfectly normal to be afraid dear. It is a pretty big change for you, and it's natural for you to be overwhelmed or scared of what it," Anna's mom comforted her.

"I know, but how do you know everything will end up okay? How are you so confident?" Anna asked. Uncertainty had slowly started to overwhelm her ever since she had uttered those two simple, yet weighty, words at her wedding. Desperately trying to dispel such thoughts, Anna turned to the person who knew her best.

"Well my little firefly," her mom began. "As cheesy as it may sound, for me I know everything will be okay when I look into your father's eyes because no matter how bad things get I can see the love that still burns in them."

As much as Anna wanted to gag when thinking about her parents in any sort of romantic behavior, she had to admit that argument made her feel a little better. And she really liked cheesy things.

"Besides," he mom continued. "Marrying for love is something that happens so rarely for those of royal blood. Just be glad your father has a sweet spot or you might have been stuck with marrying that bucktoothed third son from the Eastern Plains."

At that Anna's face quickly scrunched up at such a revolting thought. She had to admit that in the greater scheme of things Hans was a good step up from that, and just acknowledging that made her feel infinitely better.

"Yeah mom, I guess you have a point." She still had some doubts, but she decided to simply write them off.

Deciding to change the subject to something more positive, her mother began, "So I heard that you two decided to travel by the North Mountain to reach the Winter Palace."

Quickly perking up, Anna responded with a smile. "Oh yeah! Hans insisted on it because he said the scenery would be beautiful and that he had never seen snow capped peaks before."

"Oh, just please keep in mind that the road through the mountains can be really dangerous, especially during the winter. You could just travel around the mountains now but on your way back in the spring you could go by the North Mountain."

"Oh mother stop worrying so much! We are just going on our honeymoon, not off to battle! Besides Hans seemed very excited about it when he brought it up. I would hate to let him down."

"If you insist. I am sure your father will add more guards to your escort though." Her mom replied quickly. "And I know you have to leave soon so I will let you finish packing." She spoke, turning as she did so away from her daughter.

"Mom, wait."

She turned back to meet her daughter's eyes, "what is it dear?"

"I love you."

"I love you too firefly." Her mother smiled gently before she left Anna alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Leaning out of the carriage window, Anna waved goodbye to her parents as a smile graced her features. Her parents quickly waved back, which was enough for Anna as she immediately ducked back into the carriage. Her joy was positively infectious and it took all of her willpower not to physically jump up and down in her seat. The talk she had with her mother earlier did much to dispel the apprehension she felt towards the huge changes happening in her life.

Looking back out the window one last time she could see her parents' silhouettes fade from view. As Anna fell back into her seat rather ungracefully, she began to replay the earlier events of the previous few days in her head. Everything had gone so wonderfully. Following the ceremony her new husband, _now that will take some getting used to_, held her hand through all the boring conversations with nobles that the couple was subjected to. She could easily say it was the most perfect part of her short life. It was nearly exactly the same as the many fairy tales she had read as a child. She had found her prince charming and now they would live happily ever after.

Such thoughts only succeeded in drawing a contented sigh from her lips. Before she even realized she had made such a sound, a deep chuckle sounded beside her.

Looking over her shoulder at her new husband, Anna's smile only grew in size. He was looking at her giving her a look that clearly said, 'Really Anna? Daydreaming already?'

She quickly tried to come up with a witty retort in response to his silent poke, but all that she could come up with was sticking her tongue out at him. Which she did.

A generous smile graced his features at his wife's childish antics which Anna counted as a victory in her book. Pleased, she proceeded to poke her head back out the window and watch as the beautiful scenery of the Northern Forests began to give way to snow covered mountain peaks.

She sat back down inside the carriage smiling at Hans as he looked out the window. As she stared at her new husband it only then occurred to her that they never consummated their marriage. Secretly she was somewhat happy about that because she had never done anything more than kiss a stable boy once. To say this was something that she had little experience or confidence with would be the understatement of the year. Even just thinking about it made her blush furiously.

"What is it Anna?" Hans asked, clearly intrigued by Anna's sudden change in behavior.

"Oh, uh, it's nothing," she quickly rebuffed, hoping to speedily end the conversation before more blood rushed to her face. If that was even possible.

Hans tilted his head and gave her a look that plainly said 'yeah right'.

With a sigh Anna relented and began to explain. "Well it's just that after the wedding we never…never, uh, you know…right? I-I don't really know how to say it…"

Hans squeezed her hand while at the same time he laughed hard. Very hard. Quickly, Anna felt like disappearing because that harsh laugh made her feel like a little child who was about to be shown just how stupid they were being.

She looked up at him, silently pleading for him to stop. Her look quickly changed something inside of him once he realized what it meant, and he quickly tried to make up for it.

"Sweetheart don't let it worry you so much, I'm sure you'll be amazing as always." He said as he looked down somewhat ashamedly. "Besides, it'll be my first time too."

Still unsure, Anna timidly asked, "really?"

Hans looked at her with a stern expression set upon his face. "Of course, my love. Would I ever lie to you?"

Satisfied with the answer, she nodded and squeezed his hand to show everything was okay. A somewhat comfortable silence fell over the couple like a cloud. Though no matter how hard Anna wanted to initiate another conversation, something kept her from doing so. As such, neither spoke a word to the other for the longest time.

The only thing that interrupted the couple's silent reverie was the carriage stopping abruptly. The jolt from such a sudden stop threw Anna to the floor with her head practically falling in her husband's lap. Blushing furiously, she looked up to quickly apologize to Hans but whatever she was about to say died in her throat at the sight of his concerned expression as he looked out the window.

A piercing noise outside the carriage echoed loudly and the unmistakable sound of royal guardsmen dismounting from their steeds quickly followed.

"Protect the carriage!" rang the battle cry of one of the royal guardsmen.

"Hans! What's going on?" Anna asked, terrified.

"I don't know. Wait here," Hans said as he stood and drew the sword from its sheath on his hip. Moving past her, he opened the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind him as he did so.

Once Hans had left Anna alone the sounds of combat continued to grow. The clang of metal hitting metal and the sound of metal piercing flesh could clearly be heard through the thin curtains adorning the windows. Soon the unmistakable sound of gunfire erupted as well, and much too close for comfort. Following one such vicious eruption of gunfire, several pieces of lead sliced through the thin wood of the carriage. Anna screamed bloody murder as she looked at the holes in the carriage, not far from where she was sitting.

The door flew open causing Anna to jump away from it in fear only for her to quickly recognize the face of her husband.

"Hans!" She rushed to him to embrace him but was instead violently pushed away. Stunned, she looked up from the floor of the carriage to the face of her newly betrothed. The once perfect skin of his face was now covered in blood making him look completely terrifying. Even to his wife.

"Anna you have to get out of here, now!" He yelled at her, and the look in his eyes told her he would not take no for an answer.

"Hans…"

"There's no time Anna! Run, I'll help hold them off!" he yelled, pushing Anna again, practically throwing her out the other side of the carriage.

Gathering her footing she rose to look back at Hans just as someone ran at him with a sword raised. Seeing where she was looking, he turned quickly and pushed his blade through the assailant's soft, unguarded midsection.

"Get out of here Anna! Now!" he repeated.

Finally accepting the words of her husband she turned and ran away from the bloody battle taking place and unknowingly towards the snow covered North Mountain.

She ran through the tall, thick snow trying to keep her eyes open as tears quickly streaked down her face. Her mind permanently focused on the scene of carnage and death now behind her. Even as she could hear the screams of her soldiers fading into the distance her legs continued to push her on and away from the battle still raging on. Her mind blank, though still occupied by an instinctual need to escape danger, quickly became overwhelmed by the sound of her own heart. Its thunderous beating only growing more intense as her weak legs continued to push their way through the deep and endless snow.

She continued to run even as her senses became consumed by the ongoing thundering echoing throughout her body. Each tree she passed began to look the same. The bare, snow covered trees continued on for as far as the eye could see. Soon Anna could no longer tell in which direction she was going as everything looked the exact same. With no sense of direction and with her lungs burning, she knew she would have to stop for a break soon or she would quickly become lost.

Before she could contemplate whether or not she was safe to stop, she was forcibly thrown to the ground. The force of the blow enough to launch her forward by several feet. Regaining what was left of her wits, she quickly turned to confront her assailant only to be met with nothing. Only the slowly falling snow moved as her head frantically turned in all possible directions. Confusion quickly marred her snow covered face as she saw no possible reason for her to have fallen as she had. A dull throbbing in her right shoulder was all that could pull her out of her silent contemplation. Looking to the source of the strange feeling, her eyes were met with the odd color of bright red. The misplaced color seemed to be seeping out of what looked like to be a hole in her shoulder. Slowly moving a shaking hand towards the hole, her world immediately turned white as her body finally registered the pain that came from a gunshot wound.

Still possessing some ability to think, Anna tried to cover the hole in her flesh with one of her gloves in an attempt to stop the bleeding. It didn't work. Blood continued to gush out of the wound, staining the once picturesque winter landscape with the deep red color of her own life force. Her mind lost all sense of time as she strained to slowly drag herself over to a nearby fallen tree only to have her arm give out from under her just halfway there. Her vision was starting to turn blurry as the edges of her sight began to turn black. Her eyelids began to feel heavy, and she felt sleepy for some odd reason. Yet she desperately tried to keep her eyes open. She knew very little about first aid, but she did know that the last thing she wanted right now was to fall asleep.

As she laid there nearly falling into a state of shock, she could begin to faintly hear the distant sound of someone barking orders and of the footfalls of men running through the rough terrain. Barely able to keep her eyes open anymore, she could just barely see a rifle pointed in her direction from no more than a few yards in front of her. Anna's mind desperately screamed for her to move but her numb, tired muscles failed to so much as flinch as she faced death directly in front of her. Using what little energy she had left, she closed her eyes. For who would wish to see their own death coming?

Seconds quickly turned into minutes. Before long it felt as if she had laid there with her eyes closed for hours. Surely if she were dead she would have felt different.

With every ounce of energy she had left, she pried open her tired eyelids and pulled her head up off the ground just enough to see what fate awaited her. In place of the standing figure that had earlier pointed the end of his rifle at her there was a slumped figure laying in the snow, motionless. Unable to keep her eyes open anymore, her head fell back into the soft snow below her. The sounds of screams faintly registered in her ears before an all-consuming darkness finally overwhelmed her. But an angelic sound floating down from above made it hard to focus on anything else. Barely, just barely, she made out the words that sounded sweeter than honey and more delicious than the most exquisite chocolate she'd ever had.

"It'll be okay, snowflake. I've got you," the sweet feminine voice echoed down to her.

Even though her body protested, a small smile formed on her lips. If she had to die, there had to be worse ways to go than hearing an angel speak melodically to you.

* * *

**A/N**: Again, sorry about the long wait! I was really surprised by the positive reception of this story. Especially since the first chapter was just a short attempt at setting up the story. So please let me know what you think! I am trying to improve and nothing helps more than reviews!

And a big shout out to RaymanK16 for looking over this for me!


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